Notes for Authors Notes for Authors
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notes for authors Notes for authors 1. Aims and scope 2.3. Scientific Comment Acta Crystallographica Section F is a rapid structural biology Comments of general scientific interest to the readership are communications journal. welcomed. These should not normally exceed two journal pages and Articles on any aspect of structural biology, including structures should be submitted as in x3. determined using high-throughput methods or from iterative studies such as those used in the pharmaceutical industry, are welcomed by 2.4. Special issues the journal. Acta Cryst. F also publishes special sections and issues devoted to The journal offers the option of open access, and all communica- the work of groups focusing on specific areas of structural biology. tions benefit from unlimited free use of colour illustrations and no For more information, contact [email protected]. page charges. Authors are encouraged to submit multimedia content for publication with their articles. Acta Cryst. F has a dedicated online tool called publBio that is 3. Submission and handling of articles designed to make the preparation and submission of articles easier for authors. 3.1. Submission Articles must be submitted electronically via the web at http:// journals.iucr.org/f/services/submit.html or via publBio at http:// publbio.iucr.org. 2. Categories of contributions Full details of the submission procedure, instructions for submitting an article and details of the files required are given at Contributions should conform to the general editorial style of the http://journals.iucr.org/f/services/submitinstructions.html. All authors journal. Articles should not exceed four journal pages (about 3000 are encouraged to use the publBio publication tool to prepare words) and structural communications should describe a single and submit their article (see http://journals.iucr.org/f/services/ structure. Typical articles may be viewed by going to http:// publbiosubmission.html). Alternatively, authors may use the Word or journals.iucr.org/f/sample_issue.html. OpenOffice templates available from http://journals.iucr.org/services/ docxtemplate/. Authors of structural articles are required to provide a wwPDB 2.1. Research Communications validation report on submission. These are short focused articles and can describe any aspect of Articles describing the crystallization of a biological macro- structural biology. publBio templates are available for this type of molecule must be prepared using publBio or the publBio tools within article (see x3.1). the IUCr Word template. Full details of how to submit articles For articles that describe the determination of biological structures, using publBio can be found at http://journals.iucr.org/f/services/ details of data requirements can be found at http://journals.iucr.org/f/ publbiosubmission.html. services/evaluationcriteria/. The contact author must provide an e-mail address for all editorial Articles describing the crystallization of a biological macro- communications and despatch of proofs and electronic reprints. molecule should describe more than just a routine crystallization and should include novel aspects of the crystallization procedure together 3.2. File format with new science. They should cover expression, purification and For articles not produced using publBio, the text, tables, figures crystallization of a macromolecule, and the validation of crystal and figure captions should be supplied as a single file in Word or quality, including a presentation of the diffraction data statistics. OpenOffice format. For all articles, each figure or scheme should also Evidence of the identity of the crystallized macromolecule is also be provided as a high-resolution graphics file (minimum 600 d.p.i.) in required. Special submission instructions apply to this type of article TIFF, PostScript, encapsulated PostScript or PNG format. Supporting (see x3.1) information should be provided at the end of the article or in one of Brief descriptions of special methods, equipment modifications, the formats listed at http://journals.iucr.org/services/filetypes.html. techniques for accomplishing certain tasks etc. related to crystal- lization or other fields of structural biology are also welcomed. 3.3. Handling of articles Each article is handled by an editor chosen by the author from a list of those available at the time of submission. Authors should 2.2. Letters to the Editor choose an editor whose area of expertise most closely matches the These may deal with any aspect of crystallography, its role, its subject of the article. Details of the current Editorial Board can be propagation or the proper function of its Societies etc. They may also found at http://journals.iucr.org/f/services/editors.html. deal with a technical or scientific observation that would usefully be All contributions will be seen by referees (normally two) before brought to a wider audience. Letters should be submitted to one of they can be accepted for publication. The editor to whom the the Section Editors. manuscript is assigned is responsible for the review process and notes for authors for accepting or rejecting the article. This responsibility includes 3.5. Author grievance procedure decisions on the final form of the article and interpretation of An author who believes that an article has been unjustifiably these Notes when necessary. Further information on the peer treated by the Co-editor may appeal initially to the Section Editors review process can be found at http://journals.iucr.org/f/services/ for a new review and, finally, to the Editor-in-chief of Acta Crystal- peerreview.html. lographica if the author is still aggrieved by the decision. The initial Changes to an article requested by the Section Editors, Co-editor appeal must be made within three months of rejection of the article. or the editorial staff should be received within one month of trans- The decision of the Editor-in-chief is final. mittal to the author, otherwise the submission will be considered as withdrawn. If an article is not acceptable after two revisions it will not be considered further. Any subsequent communication of the mate- 3.6. Copyright rial will be treated as a new submission in the editorial process. An Except as required otherwise by national laws, an author will be article that has been rejected must not be resubmitted to any IUCr required to agree to the transfer of copyright before an article can be journal unless the reasons given for the rejection have been fully accepted. Authors selecting open access do not need to transfer addressed in the revised version. copyright. Details of author rights can be found at http:// After initial submission, any revised or new files should be journals.iucr.org/services/authorrights.html. uploaded only in response to a specific request from an editor. For accepted articles, it is the responsibility of the Managing Editor 3.7. Open access to prepare the article for publication. This may involve correspon- dence with the authors and/or the responsible editor in order to Authors are given the opportunity to make their articles ‘open resolve ambiguities or to obtain satisfactory figures or tables. The access’ on Crystallography Journals Online. Authors of open-access date of acceptance that will appear on the published article is the date articles will not be asked to transfer copyright to the IUCr, but will on which the Managing Editor receives the last item required. instead be asked to agree to an open-access licence. This licence is Correspondence will be sent to the contact author who submitted the identical to the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) Licence. article unless the Managing Editor is informed of some other suitable Further details can be found at http://journals.iucr.org/services/ arrangement. Contact details for the Managing Editor of Section F openaccess.html. can be found at http://journals.iucr.org/services/contactus.html. On rare occasions, an editor may consider that an article is better 3.8. Publication fees suited to a section of Acta Crystallographica other than that specified There are no fees for colour figures or electronic reprints. If by the author(s), to IUCrJ, Journal of Applied Crystallography or to authors require open access or printed reprints there is a charge and Journal of Synchrotron Radiation. Any change to the section or details will be given at the proof stage. journal of publication will only be made after full discussion with the contact author. Articles will be checked for plagiarism using the CrossCheck service. 4. Article preparation 4.1. General information Before preparing articles, authors should consult a current issue of 3.4. Author’s warranty the journal to make themselves familiar with the general format, such as the use of headings, layout of tables and citation of The submission of an article is taken as an implicit guarantee that references. A sample issue is available at http://journals.iucr.org/f/ the work is original, that it is the author(s) own work, that all authors sample_issue.html. are aware of and concur with the submission, that all workers All contributions must be accompanied by an English language involved in the study are listed as authors or given proper credit in Abstract and a one or two sentence Synopsis of the main findings of the acknowledgements, that the article has not already been the article for inclusion in the Table of Contents. Authors should also published (in any language or medium), and that it is not being supply at least five keywords. considered and will not be offered elsewhere while under consid- The Abstract should state as specifically and as quantitatively as eration for an IUCr journal. The inclusion of material in an informal possible the principal results obtained. It should be suitable for publication, e.g. a preprint server or a newsletter, does not preclude reproduction by abstracting services without a change in wording and publication in an IUCr journal.